Meeting Notes - July 7, 2017

As the public creator beta of Sansar gets closer and closer, many creator preview applicants received some good news last week as a new round of invitations was sent to many on the Sansar Creator Preview waiting list. As a result, this week’s community meetings were filled with many excited newcomers to Sansar.

Office Hour participants toured the Garden of Dreams, created by Kayle Matzerath.

WELCOME TO OUR NEWEST CREATORS!

Early Creator Preview participants were energized by the many new (virtual) faces in the crowd as the Sansar team welcomed newcomers and addressed their many questions. Most of the new inquiries focused on topics already addressed in previous meetings, so newcomers reading this summary are encouraged to review the archive of previous Office Hour Meeting Notes.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The meetings started off with a review of the new Creator Preview update for Sansar, which was subsequently released on July 10. Product Director Jason Gholston and Associate Product Manager Cara Canlas reviewed highlights of the update, which includes the introduction of a materials editor, global illumination, custom media surfaces (such as streaming video), new scripting capabilities, and an improved character editor for better avatar customization. There’s plenty more, too! Check out the Release Notes for the full list of features!

The Sansar team also reminded everyone that the public opening of the Creator Beta is only a matter of weeks away. To inspire creators, we’re holding our largest-ever Creator Challenge that awards over $36,000 (USD) in prizes including a $10,000 award for the best Sansar overall experience. Visit Sansar.com to learn more (including rules and guidelines).

With so many new creators in attendance, there was no shortage of questions for the Sansar team during both meetings. Here are some highlights of the Q&A:

With the introduction of Global Illumination, will I need to rebuild my entire scene or experience?

No. Existing scenes and experiences will continue to work, but you may want to go back and “re-tune” the lighting to take advantage of improvements offered by Global Illumination. Be sure to turn on Global Illumination and once you are ready with your adjustments, you can simply re-publish for the changes to take effect.

With the scripting updates introduced in the newest release, will my existing scripts continue to work?

Unfortunately, no. The newest release includes a major update to Sansar’s scripting API that changes the namespace from LindenLab to Sansar. As a result of this change, all scripts written prior to this update will no longer run and will need to be updated.

Will the Sansar.com Help and Knowledge Base be updated with information on how to take advantage of all the new features, such as Global Illumination and the Materials Editor?

Yes! Check out the knowledge base for the newest documentation, which will continue to expand with more support resources as more features are made available. One additional learning resource that the Sansar team is working on is a showcase creator academy within Sansar itself. For example, a “Hall of Materials” will feature displays of objects with different settings in action on different materials so that creators can see and experience (rather than just read about) how the materials editor works inside Sansar.

Will there be improvements to organizing Sansar inventory?

Yes! It is a priority, according to Jason. “We understand that this is an unnecessary pain point and we are working to get it addressed as soon as possible - but we want to do it right so it may take awhile to build it in a way that is both easy and powerful,” said Jason.

Will creators be able to sell bundled items or collections in The Sansar Store?

“We know it is important...but we’ve got some work to do to properly support it,” said Jason. “There’s tons of stuff to do to make it work well.” Specifically, he referenced backend development, support for licensing, store presentation improvements and other challenges.

What amount of control will creators have over their experiences and scenes?

Creators maintain control over their experiences and scenes and visitors can not permanently “edit” or alter their creations. Jason reiterated that the state of your scene or experience “resets” once all visitors leave. In addition, creators will eventually have admin tools for better regulation of who can access their creations (including the ability to boot out unwanted visitors).

When will Sansar support collaborative building?

“We’ve been building the underlying infrastructure for that, but it is pretty complicated and we want to build it right,” according to Jason. “It’s a big project...and we’re continuing to chip away at it and we know it is important.”

Will users in VR mode be able to see text chat (which currently is only viewable in desktop mode)?

We encourage people to use voice chat, but we will eventually also have a text chat option in VR mode. For the short-term, we’ve been focusing more on optimizing our efforts on getting the social VR experience to work well - which has a strong emphasis on voice communication.

Will the Atlas within Sansar be searchable?

Search is already supported on the web via atlas.sansar.com. It is “coming soon” within Sansar, according to Jason.

Don’t miss your chance to participate in future Sansar Office Hours. You can find announcements on future meetings at Sansar.com.